At Hyundai dealers across America, there are 964 copies of the discontinued Azera strewn about, waiting for the final 964 Hyundai Azera buyers.
A raft of recently discontinued models has resulted in opportunities for consumers to potentially snatch up terrific deals while attractive financing terms remain on 2017 models. The Azera, a large volume-brand sedan unable to function in a market that’s rapidly turning its back on such vehicles, is only one such dead model. Production of the first (and only) generation of Jeep’s Patriot, for example, ended late last year, but there are more than 6,600 in dealer inventory, according to Cars.com.
Don’t wait too long, or you’ll end up like that buyer of a new 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution who paid $138,000 just this month, July 2017.
Of course, there won’t come a point at which any one of the 1,500 or so Dodge Darts still available for sale will be valued at $138,000. But as new model year vehicles begin to take over in new vehicle showrooms, programs on remaining copies of prior model year vehicles begin to dry up. Dealers are then left with excessive stock and little manufacturer support to reduce that stock.
That means the deals available on leftover models this summer might not soon improve, as 2018 vehicles begin to garner manufacturers’ incentive and marketing support.
In FCA showrooms, to go along with all of those remaining Dodge Darts and Jeep Patriots, there are roughly 4,000 Chrysler 200s. Officially, Chrysler lists a $2,000 cash allowance and 0-percent financing over 36 months on the 200 Limited Platinum 2.4. There are 17 V6-powered Chrysler 200s in stock priced below $20,000.
Officially killed off earlier this week, there are more than 900 Infiniti QX70s in stock at U.S. dealers. With reportedly no 2018 Nissan Juke incoming, there are over 1,800 2017 Jukes in stock. Lexus has nearly 400 copies of the dead CT200h remaining in its dealer inventory. Volkswagen’s recently eliminated Touareg remains relatively common — there are 1,439 in Cars.com’s inventory listing and nearly 800 copies of the defunct Volkswagen CC.
There are almost 1,500 Buick Veranos at U.S. Buick dealers. A mid-grade Sport Touring can be leased for $199 month over 39 months for $3,269, GM says. That’s before the negotiations begin. There are 18 Veranos in stock with advertised prices below $18,000.
Last but not least, GM’s Chevrolet SS inventory stands above 1,000 units. SS production ended in May. As the SS’s final days neared, however, demand picked up. March, for example, was the SS’s best month ever, and by a wide margin.
Getting your hands on one of the final SSs might not be so easy then. But if your heart was set on a 2017 Jeep Patriot, you have some time left on the clock before the good deals expire.
[Images: FCA, General Motors]
Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.
Timothy, Thanks but can you provide the corresponding numbers for Canada (please)?
a few months back i saw chrysler 200s had 0% for 84 months… in a moment of weakness i found a nice looking 200S AWD V6 online and asked the wife what she thought?
“No.”
alrighty then… (she didn’t like how it looked.)
She should have her eyes checked.
AGREED.
It’s a good looking car.
I rented one. Liked it a lot.
Offer up a free bucket of Popeye’s per month for the payment term with each new 200 and I bet you’ll get rid of those things in a hurry!
7 year payment funny the car will be lucky if makes it more than 5 years.
IMO, the best one you mentioned there is the Azera.
The very last of those Darts and 200s probably won’t be gone for 12-18 months.
The 200 with the pentastar engine is still my favorite domestic midsized car. The interior is of a higher quality than some Buicks and Cadillacs.
GM – what a disgrace!
Rented a Dart a few months back. Nearly the worst car I’ve driven in a long, long time. I was actually kind of looking forward to it after spending 6 hours in a 2003 Taurus Wagon I drove out to my son. After about two hours in the Dart, I wanted the Taurus back.
I bought my TSX Sportwagon when there were about 300 left and only 2 within 150 miles of me.
The other day I saw a brand new 2015 Kia K900 for sale. Say what you want, it’s a lot car for the money.
Last year I drove a 2 year old K900 with 30-ish thousand miles on it.
I wouldn’t buy one new if you put a gun to my head.
Any amount is a lot of money for that car, I assure you. If that’s what it gets to in only 2 years, it’s pure junk from the factory.
Why do you say that?
Good grief – you guys keep referencing models I have never even seen in the wild. How good is the advertising if people don’t even know your products exist.
FWIW I’ve driven alot of different vehicles in the past few years. ALL of them have been pretty dang nice. There were some quirks of course but we are lucky at this point in history to have such a variety of quality vehicles to choose from.
Well taken care of I expect most to last 200K+ miles. I have no doubt that a cheap driver who avoids maintenance or basically treating their car well can still kill a modern car.
I should add that despite how nice all these cars are I’m still hesitant to drop that much money on a depreciating asset…
Eh, the K900 has gotten pretty respectable reviews – taking into account what it is (a Korean-market oriented floaty luxo-cruiser).
Still, unless getting one used, would wait until the K900 replacement (which should have a bit of that Stinger DNA when it comes to handling).
It is but at the same time too, it’s very expensive for a Kia. You’re probably better off buying a dealer certified car with the K900 instead of taking a big hit on depreciation, since it’s a Kia.
Better off getting a low mileage 200S V6 and let that first owner take the depreciation hit. Betcha you can find one for less than $17K
When I was car searching a few months ago – I found a 200S with 20k-odd miles for just over $16k. It was tempting but – my co-worker has one – the backseat just won’t do. not with a 6’4 teenager.
I saw a new 2017 Ford Fiesta S hatchback for 9k the other day. 9K for a new car .
If it had been within a couple hours drive I would have been tempted even though
it wasn’t the 3 cylinder turbo.
I like this one. An SE but as cheap as S models elsewhere.
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/698471005/overview/
Every time I read about the SS, I’m tempted. This is two articles in one day now. A few months back I seem to recall that they were going for 20% under MSRP, so around $40K. I’d just bought my FoRS, so couldn’t justify another $40K car, but if prices on the remaining inventory drop much below that, I’ll make space…
Is there a good place for the layman to get this kind of information? Manufacturer websites tend to be woefully difficult to navigate. The Chevy website only lets me search an unspecified radius from a given zipcode.
Aaannnd, I see the cars.com link provided in TFA makes this easy. Note to self, reread the article before posting next time..
Yup, that 20% discount coincidentally coincided with the best month of sales for the SS.
Obviously people were willing to put down $40k for them but less willing at $45k. It is a bargain at $50k but the one I test drove listed for $36k was too good to pass up. Too bad I passed up on it.
If they do another 20% off sale, I predict anyone who wants one will have to move fast.
I bought mine on the last week of June at risk of there being a rebate for July. I did it because there were 11 manual SS’s in a 150? 200? Mile range from me. I knew that wouldn’t last. Today there are 3 manuals left, two of them black and one of them an expensive white.
Automatics are a plenty, but really once you drive both you would be absolutely insane to buy an auto after giving the manual a round.
I’m happy with my G, but I imagine a lightly used ’16 200C is like $10K. That’s hard to walk away from. A lot of car for the money.
“but I imagine a lightly used ’16 200C is like $10K”
I haven’t seen any that cheap, not a 6cyl anyways, and most certainly not a “clean” one.
Semi related: got held up in traffic this week near the ‘hood when an Avenger t-boned a Journey. You can’t make this stuff up.
Ha!
There is one with 5k miles going for around 19k likely can get it around 17k if you haggle.
Will any of these beat the 2007 Crossfire? New examples were still sitting on dealer lots in 2009.
I feel like they sold them on Overstock.com, too
A Chevy SS costs $50 grand? No wonder they’re piling up on the lots. I mean I realize the engine is “special” but come on, $50 grand?
Clearly you’ve never driven one or been around one, I wouldn’t trade my 17 M6 straight out for a 911. The SS is the only car sold in America today I find worthy of my money.
The reason most of them are sitting there all alone is that they aren’t very nice cars. The chances are that would be my opinion, too, so I’m not too excited about this -bargains or not. Remember: unliked car equals heavily depreciated car. You just might lose your money back.
The 200 is better than anything GM is offering today.
GM – what a disgrace!
Oh, please.
The 200 sits at or near the bottom of rankings for the midsize segment.
The Impala has been ranked at or near the top for the full-size class (including, at the time, being the highest rated sedan by Consumer Reports).
The 200 in 2015 was selling better than the Malibu is today.
GM – what a disgrace
Barra – what a disgrace
Do you have some type of disability that causes you to repeat the same thing over and over again? Considering you actually like the Chrysler 200, I guess I’ve answered my own question.
I was looking earlier this year for an Azera just to test drive. There was one on the lot but I couldn’t test drive it. Just looked,only 2 in a 50 mile radius and 6 in a 150 mile radius. Gotta have stock if you want to sell. And not any cheaper than an Avalon.
Not “cheaper” by MSRP, but cheaper in that the lowest model comes better equipped than the base Avalon.
Aside from not offering a lower-priced base trim, the problem with the Azera is that is simply didn’t offer that much more passenger space than the Sonata (unlike the Avalon which offers a good bit more room than the Camry).
Anyhow, the Cadenza is significantly better than the last Azera we got (the new Grandeur seems pretty nice, tho).
I saw a really cheap 200 with the tigershark engine in a local add. It would make a good second car for some trips. I didn’t take my 2009 Malibu to Williamsburg Va. because I was afraid of adding to its mileage (120,000mls).
we drive the hell out of our cars past 250K miles.
In 2012 We bought one of the last unloved Hyundai Veracruzes, for a heavily-subsidized price of $CDN 26k. It was a plush, reliable family camper hauler while we needed it, and four years later we recovered 62% on a wholesale trade for an also-discounted, equally-unloved Mazda3.
Sometimes it pays to do the opposite of the Joneses.
Those Vercruzes are underrated cars IMO. Like a cut-rate, larger RX350 (obviously nowhere as nicely finished inside). Smart move.
Who in his or her right mind would ever want to buy a “sedan” nowadays anyway?
========================
Plenty of us. They’re a comparatively cheap way of moving about without the excessive costs, crappy on road dynamics, and unused capability of CUVs and trucks. Sometimes–brace yourself–households have *both* a sedan and a truck.
Who in his or her right mind cares what some internet weirdo thinks of his or her vehicle purchasing decisions?
Me. What else would make sense for me?
* I have a 60 mile round trip commute. It’s just me.
* I value fuel economy.
* The last time I had to carry anything bulky was three years ago when a family member moved and everyone was pressed into service. Trucks, SUVs, etc.
* I don’t do big home repairs, so never need to transport drywall or other big items (the most common reason I see for why someone has a truck).
* I almost always am driving by myself. Every so often I take my 13 year old to a friend’s house.
* For family trips, we use my wife’s Buick Enclave.
To sum up – my car is a daily driver, for a moderately long commute, my priority is high MPG, I might have someone else in the car with me once every three months at most, and we have a big comfortable vehicle which we use when going on trips.
Why *wouldn’t* I buy a sedan?
Add a trailer hitch and an basic 8×10 trailer to that sedan and you can still get alot of chores done.
Who here sincerely believes Chrysler will be gone in a decade?
Five years or less at this rate.
I wonder if any of those Veranos were of the three-pedal variety.
Well, going off our B&B sample size of DaveFromCalagry, stick shift Veranos are to be avoided like the plague.
Friends don’t let friends buy Chrysler 200 or Dart or Jeep Patriot. Atleast with other FCA products you can dump the vehicle and get something else, If you run into reliability issues. But with dead models their depreciation is so high good luck..
Heh – last year my co-worker bought a 200C. He walked me outside to show off his new pride ‘n’ joy. I said – thinking how the car was just axed – “I hope you didn’t pay too much for this.”
And he looked at you with surprise clue b/c he learned everything he knew from the salesman…
I find it best when someone tells me about their new car is to simply ask “How do you like it?” and just keep my mouth shut about my own opinion.
Yup, as long as you are happy, I am happy for you.
Funny that my family owns two of the cars that are on this list. FIL owns a 200C, and my mom owns a Verano. Not sure what that says about us…
My 70-80 something year old parents have a Buick Verano that they bought a few years ago. Perfect car for them. It’s quiet, comfortable and compact. I drove it a couple of times and it is a decent car. You could certainly do worse.
If one can get past the rear seats (too small for the class, apparently) low mile V6 AWD 200S’s can be had for a song. You almost can’t NOT think about it for 5 minutes at least.